Pussy Riot's Political Girl

Life and fate in Russia.

It's 2014. Russia hosts the Winter Olympics and invades Crimea. Putin is re-elected. And activist Maria Alyokhina walks out of a penal colony — two years served for performing, in a cathedral, the punk prayer Virgin Mary, Banish Putin.

She had warned the world about the dangers of authoritarianism, but nobody listened. And the Russia she returns to is more dangerous than the one she left. Then in May 2022, facing a new prison sentence, Maria escapes Russia disguised as a food delivery courier.

What do you do when your country has been seized by people waging war on another nation — and on their own people? You get bolder. In this extraordinary, live event, set to music by Eric J. Breitenbach, Maria recounts her story that's fearlessly brave and filled with darkly funny acts of resistance — pulling us into the heart of grassroots opposition and the absurd measures the Russian state deploys to crush it.

For anyone who wants to stand up for the truth and is willing to pay the price. Performed in English.

Maria Alyokhina [RUS]: political activist, artist and founding member of Pussy Riot, author of Riot Days and Political Girl: Life and Fate in Russia.

Eric J. Breitenbach [CAN]: Canadian drummer and producer from Vancouver, a member of Pussy Riot performing in the Riot Days production, and co-founder of New Age Doom.